the artist's way - week four - check in

THE ARTIST'S WAY - WEEK FOUR

the drama, stress, and pain over the past week (see previous post) was actually well timed because it all effectively stopped me from reading blogs or books all week.....and week four was where julia cameron asked that we deprive ourselves of reading for the week. the reasoning behind 'reading deprivation' is that it gives us a vacant space to fill. suddenly we start taking more notice of the voice within and our own art and creativity start to break through. julia states that some artists find this to be a frightening and emotional stage though i have to say i have never felt that at this stage of the book. in the past i have found this stage to be quite enlightening as, instead of reading, i have found myself playing in my studio more. this time around was a little different though as i didn't have time on my hands to read and the 'space' was filled with stressful situations, not playful ones. though, there were good moments too, i guess.

snippets from my artist's way week -

five hobbies i think would be fun to do

1. sculpting


2. photography


3. making jewellery


4. origami


5. gemcutter - someone who cuts and polishes gemstones

how has your artists way journey been this week - week 4? it's been a whirlwind of drama and stress which were unrelated to my art or creative journey.

did you write about your self when you are 80 years old? i wrote about myself at 80 and also at the age of 8. we were asked to write a letter from our 80 year old self to ourselves in the here and now. we were asked to do the same from our 8 year old self. i quite enjoyed this task.

did you complete any of the set tasks at the end of the chapter? i did most of the tasks in this chapter apart from writing my own artist's prayer and extending an artist date.

if so, would you like to share or discuss? one of the tasks was to open my wardrobe and dispose of one low-self-worth outfit. i removed all the jeans and clothes that make me feel uncomfortable and, already today, i bought a few better feeling clothes to replace them. i feel so much better within myself already!

how are the morning pages going? i am happy to report that i completed my morning pages each morning despite the aches and pains. i was feeling drained and tired on a few mornings so i kinda rushed through the pages without any thought.....they will make an interesting read later in the course but, for now, we are not allowed to read over what we have written. once again, i wrote three affirmations out, five times each, at the end of each morning pages and i truly feel like these helped to keep me more focused.

did you 'give up' reading at all? yes, surprisingly! though, as mentioned above, i was very busy dealing with other stuff so didn't get any time to read anyways.

did i go on my artist's date? sort of.....i went to buy new lavender plants for my front entrance and i found this to be a very pleasant experience. i've always enjoyed browsing through plant nurseries and it certainly helped me de-stress from the run-in with michelle's crazy property manager.

on to WEEK FIVE....

love, light and peace